Stationary nucleic acid strands have previously been analyzed on a fixed substrate, such as a fixed glass slide conventional micro array. Some instruments that have been used to analyze nucleic acid include Caliper Life Sciences-Perkin Elmer Sciclone NGSx, Zephyr NGS Workstation, and JANUS NGS Express, LabChip GX and LabChip DS, and LabChip XT; Illumina HiScan and iScan; Nanosphere Verigene System; and Applied Biosystems Ion PGM, 3500 Series Genetic Analyzers, and Ion Torrent Sequencing System.
Disadvantages of existing instruments such as those listed above for analyzing biological agents include: (1) lack of: integrated sample purification, biomolecule isolation, biomolecule detection, and lack of sensitivity; (2) long detection times; and (3) high cost of ownership. Additionally, these laboratory instruments are large in size and are not able to be down-scaled to handheld or other portable use in the field. Accordingly, there is a need to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.